However CareersinAudit.com also found that more than a third (35.8%) of the 425 accountants surveyed admitted to being aware of a senior staff member at their workplace who has knowingly made a commercial decision that could be regarded as unethical.

While 22% of accountants believe that more than a quarter of the profession has helped clients establish deliberately misleading accounts, it found that 38% would directly confront their boss if they suspected them of acting unethically.

More than half (51%) felt that those who deliberately sign off on misleading statements should be “banned from practising in the profession”, and one in 10 thought doing so should require prison time as punishment.

Simon Wright, managing director for CareersinAudit.com, said that while the majority of accountants feel they would report misconduct, there remains a “disjoint between the intention and reality of conduct in the profession”.

“There is to some degree an underlying concern about the repercussions for towing the ethical line – whether this is about losing their job, losing a client for speaking up, a risk in promotion of damaging their career reputation,” Wright said.